


Red Hair

by Beedok



Category: Ranma 1/2, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: BO threatening people, Gen, Jusenkyo curses, Suicidal Thoughts, Trans Female Character, trans girl ai
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:20:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26954983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beedok/pseuds/Beedok
Summary: Someone wondered about where Ai’s red hair came from. I had a strange idea to explain it.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 29





	Red Hair

Vodka found himself sweating. Wearing all black in the hot interior of China, in August, wasn’t the most pleasant experience. Gin didn’t seem to mind, and was still wearing his coat somehow. He supposed the other man was rather svelte, so probably didn’t overheat as much as himself, but it was still off putting.

At least it wasn’t as humid as Tokyo. Still, he hoped the research division could choose less scorching destinations next time. The two research division members looked much better dressed for the heat, their white lab coats and light clothing underneath making Gin envious. (He found the dark haired boy a bit odd though, surely he was too young to be part of the research division?)

“What’s so special about these puddles anyhow?” Gin asked, poking the nearest pond with a stick.

“They’re the _Zhòuquánxiāng_. The Cursed Springs of Sorrow. They’re said to be magical, and there’s enough evidence that the research division is curious,” the man in the lab coat said.

“This better not be another dead end, like that entrance to Yomi you made us chase before,” Gin muttered.

“Whether it’s a dead end or not is our problem. You enforcers are just here to make the guide cooperate,” the young boy in his own lab coat shot back.

“Shigeru! Watch your tone with elders!” the scientist hissed, fear in his eyes.

The boy muttered what was probably an apology. For a 12 year old with an attitude it was about the best you could expect.

“Why’s the brat here anyway?” Vodka asked, deciding to mostly ignore the boy unless given a reason to do otherwise.

“Miyano-kun just graduated from high school and will be going over to the US for university next month. I thought it would be good to get him started on field research now, at least as an observer,” the scientist replied.

The four of them were distracted from any further small talk by a shout coming from the nearby path.

“Yo! Guys! I found the easy option for cooperation!” Chianti shouted.

The guide was walking along beside her, and, as they emerged from the shrubs, Gin felt disappointed to see there was a young girl with them, Chianti’s rifle poking her in the back.

He hated when they had to get kids involved. Adults who crossed their path were usually scum he felt nothing about disposing of, but kids...

“I will cooperate, but this one advises against whatever you are planning,” the middle aged guide, in his PLA uniform, said as the trio approached. “Springs bring great misfortune.”

“Yes, yes. We’ve heard about that,” the scientist replied dismissively. “We just want you to show us to the few springs we’re interested in. If you cooperate no one has to get hurt.”

Vodka caught Gin whispering ‘where’s the fun in that’ to himself, but decided to ignore it. This guide would have no idea who they were, beyond being Japanese, and was located in such a backwater the odds of anyone caring about what he said were minimal.

“What springs did you want to see?” the guide asked, a defeated tone in his voice as he glanced to the girl. (No doubt his daughter. Maybe a granddaughter if he’d started young and aged well.)

“The child spring, the twins spring, the warrior spring, and the tyrant spring,” the scientist replied.

“The tyrant spring? Why would yo—”

“Just do what you're told or the girl gets it!” Chianti hissed.

“Aim for the leg. You get more uses out of her,” Gin said, walking over to stare the guide down.

“This one will comply,” the guide said, his hands up. “Tyrant spring curse is just a very bad curse. Not one anyone ever wants, so I was surprised. I will show the way.”

The group set off, arriving first at what the guide said was the twins spring. The scientist nodded, telling the Miyano boy to fetch the ‘test’. That test turned out to be a small mouse pulled out of a cage in the backpack. Miyano then tossed the mouse into the pond. A moment later there were two mice struggling to drag themselves out of the spring.

“Woah. It’s the real deal,” Chianti said.

“We made sure of it before coming,” the scientist said as he pulled some vials out of his own pack. “Still needed to check the identity of the springs though.”

As the man procured some samples Vodka watched the mice pull themselves to shore... only to start fighting a moment later.

“Grumpy little things,” he said, stepping back to avoid them scuffing his shoe.

“Twin spring twins often fight,” the guide replied.

“Yes, well, that’s our problem, not yours,” the scientist said. “What’s the next closest spring?”

“The warrior spring...”

The warrior spring turned the mouse dropped in larger, and more muscular (by mouse standards). It also seemed to turn braver, and decided to try to attack the Miyano boy for manhandling it earlier. Gin responded by kicking it, sending the small rodent flying, to land in some tall grass.

Collecting samples of the water went smoothly, though.

The tyrant spring was next. This mouse looked unchanged, until it started making what Vodka could only guess was the mouse equivalent of growling noises. Gin kicked that one as well, seeming to take some joy in the process.

As the water samples were being taken, the hostage girl muttered something in Mandarin that got a glare from her father.

“What was that?” Chianti asked, prodding the girl with her rifle. “What did you just say?”

“She was just complaining. She is hungry,” the guide said.

He was clearly lying, and Vodka was willing to guess she’d insulted them, but what a kid thought didn’t matter much in the grand scheme of things.

“I don’t buy it. I want to kno—“

“What she said doesn’t matter,” Gin cut in, getting a glare from Chianti. “Just take us to the last spring.”

The guide nodded and led the way.

Vodka had to admit to being a little disappointed that the mouse simply turned into a smaller mouse. With it being called the child spring he’d half wondered if it would turn into a human child. Still, he supposed it was impressive magic all the same.

“Wonder if that woman used this spring,” Gin muttered to himself as the samples were being collected.

“Huh?” Vodka asked.

Gin shook his head. “Nothing... so, research squad, are we done here?”

“We have enough material for study, yes,” the scientist replied.

“Alright. Show us the best way out of this maze of puddles then, guide,” Gin said.

“Y-yes. This way,” the guide offered.

Vodka let out a breath he didn’t realise he was holding as they emerged out from the middle of the spring filled section of the valley. The idea of being cursed, and turned into some kind of animal or—

“Gyah!”

Turning, he saw it was the Miyano boy, yelping as the ‘warrior’ mouse from before had reappeared, and jumped onto his backpack. The mouse proceeded to nip at Miyano’s dark brown hair, causing the boy to squirm, throwing the backpack (and the mouse) away from him.

Unfortunately, being from the research department, the lad wasn’t the most coordinated, and he proceeded to lose his footing, tumbling backwards. Backwards and directly into one of the pools. Chianti leapt away from the splash that followed, wisely wanting to avoid any cursed water hitting her.

After a moment spent submerged, Miyano burst out from under the water, flailing a little to gasp for air. For a second, Vodka swore nothing had changed about the boy. At least until he realised his hair had switched to a light colour, something a little too red to be called strawberry blonde.

“Young guest got fairly lucky, all things considered,” the guide said. “Just fell into the girl spring. Much better than many we passed.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Vodka swore he saw the mouse laugh and pose triumphantly before running off. No one else seemed to notice, though, all eyes focused on Miyano.

“I... I don’t feel that different?” Miyano said, voice sounding a little softer, but not too different.

“You’re twelve. There’s not too much difference yet,” Chianti said. “Probably going to need a new name though. Shigeru’s pretty masculine.”

“A new name...” Miyano muttered.

“He just needs a hot bath,” the scientist said. “Jusenkyo curses are reversible.”

“I have product that can help,” the guide said, his daughter having scooted behind him while Chianti was distracted. “Waterproof soap. Does not lock curse permanently, but is the best option for holding it off. If you let me take my daughter back to my house, I will come back with some. Fair trade, yes?”

The scientist glanced to Gin, who gave a shrug.

“If the kid wants it,” the silver haired man replied.

The guide bowed, giving his thanks, before hurrying off with his daughter up the nearby hill. As they waited, the scientist seemed a bit excited by the prospect of Miyano being able to provide a first hand account of the impacts of a curse. It struck Vodka as a bit off, to make one of their own a lab rat, but the others didn’t seem to mind.

He was too soft for this line of work.

A good ten minutes passed before the guide returned, a box full of the waterproof soap he’d promised.

“I do wish the young gentleman the best with his curse,” the guide said, a strained smile on his face and a bit of sweat on his brow.

“You told her to run, didn’t you?” Gin asked.

“Pardon?” the guide replied.

“Your daughter. In case we decided to go for a ‘no witnesses’ policy,” Gin explained.

The guide’s eyes fell. “I did not tell her. She knew what to do already.”

“The honesty is appreciated,” Gin said, a smile that was more menacing than anything else spreading across his face. “Since you’ve earned a bit of my trust, I’ll ask you nicely not to tell anyone what happened today, and tell you daughter to do the same. Got it?”

The guide nodded and gave his thanks again before running off.

“Do you really think we can trust them?” Chianti asked.

“Probably... I’d rather take that risk instead of having to dig graves for them in this heat,” Gin replied.

-b-

Soap was all about lipids, and Miyano was a biochemist. Synthesizing more waterproof soap wasn’t too hard. What _was_ hard was deciding which form to protect with the soap.

Miyano Shigeru was the one on the university admissions list, but... Miyano Shiho was so much nicer to be. The temptation got stronger and stronger each year puberty pushed the two forms further and further from each other.

-b-

Shiho had read that Jusenkyo curses brought bad luck with them, but sources had usually said that happened the more one fought the curses. (The bad luck was one of the many aspects that interested the Organisation.)

She’d embraced hers, though. So, she’d assumed she was free from that insidious angle to what she’d otherwise considered a blessing.

But now Akemi was dead. The sister who’d supported her, even when she’d changed her name and body. She couldn’t escape the conviction that it was her fault. That she should have worked to get her curse removed, and her selfish desire for happiness she didn’t deserve had left her sister dead.

She grabbed a pill of APTX, certain she didn’t deserve to live anymore.

The pain didn’t bring death, though. Shrunken and weak, she decided to make her escape, certain the fates decided she had to atone for the negative karma she’d built up, before she could attempt to escape this world again.

-b-

A short trip that had turned into a five day ordeal, with kidnappings, murders, and more, had left Ai exhausted and her protective layer of waterproof soap washed off from sweat, rain, and a swim in a lake. Which, of course, meant Jusenkyo called to the cup of coffee, she’d spilled it on herself, and now she was wondering why Conan was staring at her. After the pain of transforming back and forth with APTX, and how dramatic that change was, one would barely notice the slight tingle a Jusenkyo curse brought with it.

Still, her eyes were slowly drawn up by where Conan’s were staring, and she noticed how dark her hair was again.

“I can offer a short lie or a long truth. Which would you prefer?” she asked.

“The long truth. Always,” Conan replied.


End file.
